This invention relates to racking systems for dishwashing appliances and in particular to dishwasher racks having pivoted divider assemblies which enhance the loading flexibility of these racks.
In the design of dishwasher racks it has generally been industry practice to design racks with dish support members arranged for loading "standard" dish sizes. It is, however, likely that most households will include some "non-standard" dishes as well as various odd shaped cooking utensils which will not load properly in a dishwasher rack designed for only "standard" dishes. To alleviate the problem presented by "non-standard" dishes and other cooking utensils, several rack designs have evolved which have included movable or adjustable portions.
Geiger et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,548 issued Aug. 30, 1966, teach a rack system which is vertically adjustable within the dishwasher to accommodate large articles. The upper rack also includes several pivoted divider members. Each of the pivoted divider members is formed of wire members and is supported on the upper rack by a pair of hinge clips secured to the base of the wire rack for supporting the ends of the pivoted divider members. A separate sheet metal detent member is positioned at the end of the rack for holding the pivoted divider members in the upright position.
Smith, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,402,975 issued Sept. 24, 1968, teaches a top loading dishwasher having two levels of dishracks. Access to the lower dishrack is attained by utilizing a horizontally movable rack in cooperation with a hinged shelf which is pivotally supported between a pair of the dishwasher side walls at one end and by a portion of the movable rack at the other end. The hinged shelf includes a pair of pivotal divider assemblies each of which may be maintained in an upright posture by a detent assembly at one end of the divider assembly.
Fiocca et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,322 issued Aug. 14, 1973, teach a dishwasher rack construction in which a pivoted element can be retained in one of a plurality of intermediate positions by an arcuate toothed member located at the front of the rack.
Yake, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,261 issued Sept. 6, 1977, discloses a dishwasher rack which includes a pair of brackets fixed to the bottom of the rack and having molded slots and retainers for receiving a plurality of fences in a plurality of positions. These fences are either vertically mounted between the pair of brackets or are removed from the dishwasher rack. There is no pivotal movement of individual fences but only selective use of these fences for adjusting the distance between adjacent fences and between the rack side walls.
Prior patents show that considerable effort has been focused on the development of dishwasher racks and on the development of dishwasher racks which include flexible or variable spacing arrangements for accommodating a variety of dish loads. In spite of these previous efforts there has been no known showing of the present dishwasher rack with a pivoted divider which includes a unique divider support member, means for mounting the support member to the dishwasher rack and biasing means associated with the support member for controlling the location of the divider as it is manually pivoted between folded and upright postures.